STE: Sato's Aphasia
by ZenosParadox
Summary: RS friendship. Sato's scientific apporach to leaving Reed speechless. Mild spoilers for Season 2 episodes.


*****  
  
Title: Sato's Aphasia  
  
Author: ZenosParadox  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Summary: RS friendship. Sato's scientific approach to leaving Reed speechless. A brief review of Season 2 episodes.   
  
Disclaimer: The Enterprise characters belong to Paramount. This fiction was written solely for personal enjoyment.  
  
SATO'S APHASIA  
  
Diagnostic Criteria: Year 1  
  
Hoshi Sato was a woman of dubious motives. Although the reasons she voiced for her behaviors were always benign, her intentions were to wreak havoc on the verbal capacity of Malcolm Reed. Whenever she achieved her objective, she felt a sense of omnipotence. She, the Ensign, was in control and he, the Lieutenant, was left charmingly tongue-tied. She was merciless in her attempts to induce the language failure in the erudite Brit.   
  
Sato had even given the collective symptoms a name: Sato's Aphasia. If Broca and Wernicke could have a language deficit named for them, why not Hoshi Sato? After all, she was the very person responsible for generating such dysfunction in one Armory Officer known as Malcolm Reed.  
  
The birthday fiasco had been the first time Sato had registered her effect on the Lieutenant. She had left him quite speechless on the Klingon ship when she suggested detonating all six photon torpedoes. That had been her first surge of power--or was it the adrenaline? Whatever, the incident had sealed Reed's fate. His verbal capacity would not be spared by the Linguist.  
  
Of course, the Sato effect rarely rendered the Lieutenant completely mute. Often he simply stumbled about trying to find the right words. Like the time he had been trying to ask her to the movie. Still, this merely made her more persistent in her efforts.  
  
~~~~~  
  
Maximal Response: Shockwave 2  
  
The ultimate Sato's aphasia had been achieved entirely through serendipity. The situation held a great deal of ecological validity and the factor that was manipulated was quite inadvertent, but then, great scientific discoveries often occur in this manner.   
  
So, having established a baseline response of speech production when appearing before the Lieutenant in uniform, Sato had a firm baseline in mind for comparison. This was her one thought as she stood before Reed's door after having evaded her shirt and the Suliban holding the ship.  
  
Now exposing her subject to the second level of her independent variable, Sato registered her measurement carefully. And what was that dependent variable? Speech production, of course. Now for the comparison.   
  
Hoshi + shirt = speech.  
  
Hoshi - shirt = speechless.  
  
This being a single case study, the Linguist had no need to do more than visual inspection of her data.   
  
Sato felt benevolent at having her hypothesis so strongly supported that she told the Lieutenant not to say a word, as if he could, and to just get her a shirt. As Sato slipped on the t-shirt Reed offered, she felt that surge of power again. Or was it the adrenaline?  
  
~~~~~   
  
Generalizing the Results: Marauders  
  
At present Sato had proclaimed her interest in helping the colonists of the planet develop skills to fend of the Klingon marauders. That was merely an excuse for her covert attempts at leaving Reed speechless. Sato had decided to generalize her results to other environments. The Armory would be a good start.  
  
Reed allowed her to take the weapon to demonstrate the proper procedure for acquiring the target. Sato made sure she had Reed's full attention. Mumbling something about the set of the shoulders, she fired off a round at the targets expertly.   
  
Sato then returned to her place by Reed and noted language function had completely escaped the man. Even more satisfying was the fact that Reed could do little more than beam at her with pride. She smiled back feeling the power surge through her. Or was it that darn adrenaline again?  
  
~~~~~  
  
Confounding Variables: The Communicator  
  
Sometimes Sato's aphasia did not present as an absence of speech, but as a problem in the execution of the motor function. The present mission was the perfect example.   
  
Sato smiled as Reed tried to pronounce the name of the alien politician that reminded him of Churchill. Her satisfaction deepened when he fumbled slightly and she was, in her benevolence, forced to correct him. Even more amusing was the fact that Reed had been able to pronounce the name just an hour before when he had been speaking with Archer on the planet. Of course, Sato had been out of Reed's line of sight at the time.   
  
But Sato's little game brought her only limited joy this time. Reed's communicator was gone and now he and Archer were about to be executed on the planet below. Sato's own voice had caught as she had informed T'Pol and Tucker about the imminent death of their crewmates when she had intercepted the transmission.   
  
The daring rescue and recovery of Reed and Archer left her relieved, but Sato soon made a disturbing discovery. She was performing a detailed inspection of the communicator that had been recovered from the planet. The serial number belonged not to the unit issued to Reed, but to the Captain. This time it was Sato was left speechless, but she remained silent on the issue.  
  
~~~~~  
  
The Nonequivalent Control: Singularity  
  
There was probably no place that induced Sato's aphasia like the mess hall. Sato was convinced it was becoming a conditioned stimulus for the Lieutenant's diminished verbal capacity in her presence. Such was the case today when everyone appeared to be absorbed by their pet projects. Sato's obsession was to prepare the perfect udon soup from the recipe handed down in her family from the Meiji era of Japan.  
  
Sato approached the crew in the mess hall with satisfaction knowing that her culinary skills had been successful--until she reached the last table occupied by Lieutenant Reed and Commander Tucker. Her scientific mind was buzzing merrily with the thought of adding a nonequivalent control (i.e., the Chief Engineer) for comparison in this quasi-experimental design.   
  
Sato decided to systematically counterbalance her subjects; therefore, Tucker would be exposed to the stimulus (i.e., herself) first then Reed. She noted with delight that not only was Tucker capable of speech, but that he said her soup was fine.   
  
Sato then looked to Reed's bowl and saw it was--untouched! At this point, Sato lost all thoughts on the need for internal validity. Indeed, she threw scientific method to the wind and immediately induced reactivity in her subject by demanding to know why his bowl was untouched.  
  
Reed managed to stammer out that her soup was too salty. This had the effect of pleasing the scientific mind given the manifestation of Sato's aphasia, but the culinary mind was in outrage.   
  
Sato sipped from Reed's bowl without thinking and was obsessed for the rest of the day with perfecting her recipe. Her ill humor only increased when she realized that at one time in Japanese culture, sipping out of someone's bowl was the equivalent of a kiss.   
  
Sato spent the rest of her time in a huff, especially when she considered a mortifying possibility. Was Reed somehow testing his effects on her? Why did his opinion about the soup matter so much? Darn, she really needed that adrenaline surge about now.  
  
~~~~~  
  
The Established Paradigm: Vanishing Point  
  
It made no sense. For once, Reed not only had total speech function in her presence, he was saying just the right things. When Sato approached the men as they ate in the mess hall, Reed was the one who told them to back off in plaguing her with questions. When she was faced with a crisis on the bridge, Reed was the one who told her to trust herself. Then Sato realized she was hearing Reed's disembodied voice, reassuring her that she could do it. Do what?  
  
As the transporter glitch was overcome, Sato materialized on the pad. Her worry about the aliens sabotaging the ship was quelled somewhat when she heard Reed say she had been suspended in the transporter beam for 8.3 seconds. She barely registered Tucker speaking to her.   
  
No, if this were real, Reed should be left speechless. Sato finally noted he was being restrained and quiet around her, but his eyes showed his clear relief. The feeling of power surged through her. Or was it the adrenaline? No matter, she knew she was home.  
  
~~~~~  
  
New Hypotheses: The Catwalk  
  
Sato was as tired of the cramped quarters on the catwalk as anyone else. To her mortification, she realized she was suffering from motion sickness. Even Phlox' medication wasn't helping. She made her way to the one hiding place that provided relative seclusion as her stomach churned yet again.   
  
Hoshi was surprised when she found Malcolm in the little alcove. He turned his head to her, but said not a word. Hoshi waited for the surge of power, but only registered her churning stomach. Still, Hoshi smiled as she collected further evidence of Sato induced aphasia in Reed. Then she noted his head was bent and he seemed to be clutching his stomach, too.   
  
"Motion sickness?" she whispered as she went to stand beside him.  
  
Malcolm could only nod. He felt awkward at being caught like this and knew he never had control of his tongue around Hoshi anyway. Then he took a good look at her and smiled.  
  
"You, too?" he asked.  
  
"Scoot over," was Hoshi's response.   
  
The officers stood beside each other for a moment as the motion sickness waned. There was something comforting about sharing the misery. But soon, Sato's scientific mind produced a new research question: What other points of common ground would she find with Malcolm Reed?  
  
Sato smiled. Like a true scientist, she was anxious to begin her data collection.  
  
*****  
  
  
  
Author Notes:  
  
Dedicated to any one with even passing exposure to scientific method. 4 pages. Written November 15, 2003.  
  
Thanks for reading. No reviews are necessary. 


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